PERPETUATION OF LIFE

I. REPRODUCTION
Reproduction is the process by which plants and animals produce
offspring. Reproduction may be asexual or sexual. Asexual reproduction occurs
when a single cell divides to form two daughter cells that are genetically identical to
the parent cell.

Asexual reproduction
Asexual reproduction usually occurs by mitosis, a process in which the
chromosomes in a cell's nucleus are duplicated before cell division.
(Chromosomes are structures that organize genetic information in the nuclei of
cells. Genes are units of hereditary information that control what traits are
passed from one generation to another.) After the nucleus divides, the
cytoplasm of the cell splits, forming two new daughter cells having nuclei with the
same number and kind of chromosomes as the parent. Asexual reproduction occurs
rapidly and can produce many individuals in a short amount of time. For example,
some bacteria that reproduce in this way double their numbers every 20 minutes.
Bacteria, algae, most protozoa, yeast, dandelions, and flatworms all
reproduce asexually. Yeasts reproduce asexually by budding, a process in which
a small bulge, or bud, forms on the outer edge of a yeast cell and eventually
separates, developing into a new cell. Flatworms and starfish can regrow an entire
new organism from a piece of their body that is broken off, a process called
fragmentation.

Sexual Reproduction
In plants and animals, sexual reproduction is the fusion of a sperm and egg,
called gametes, from two different parents to form a fertilized egg called a zygote.
Gametes are produced in the male testes and female ovaries by a process called
meiosis. Meiosis is a type of cell division in which the number of chromosomes in a
diploid cell (a cell having two sets of chromosomes in its nucleus) are reduced by
half following two successive cell divisions. The four daughter cells that are
produced are each haploid, having only half the number of chromosomes as the
original diploid cell.

In males, all four daughter cells produced by meiosis become sperm, while in
females, only one daughter cell develops into an egg. When an egg and sperm fuse
at fertilization, the normal number of chromosomes are restored in the zygote. The
shuffling of the parents' genetic material that occurs during meiosis allows for new

gene combinations in offspring that over time can improve a species' chances of
survival.

Genes
Genetics is the study of how different qualities, called traits, are passed down
from parents to child. Genetics helps explain what makes you unique, why family
members look alike, and why some diseases run in families. When we trace the
paths of these qualities, we are following packages of information called genes.
How Do Genes Work?
Our body is made up of trillions of tiny cells. Almost every cell in your body
has a nucleus, a sort of headquarters that contains your genes. Your mix of genes is
unique to youeven your full brothers or sisters have a slightly different mix. Genes
are instructions for building the parts of your body and doing the work that keeps
you alive, from carrying oxygen to digesting to food and everything else we do. The
genes are grouped into collections called chromosomes. Most humans have 23 pairs
of chromosomes.
You got all your genes from your parents. For each pair of their chromosomes,
you get one chromosome from your mother and one from your father. When the egg
and sperm cells come together, they create the full set of 46 chromosomes or 23
pairs.
When sperm and eggs are created, pairs of chromosomes separate
independently and sort themselves at random into two eggs cells in your mom or
two sperm cells in your dad. You might get one chromosome in one pair from your
mom, and your sister might get the other chromosome from that pair. This means
that there are 8,388,608 possible variations of egg and sperm.